New boss knows CUB from the bottom up

Managing director John Murphy says that although beer will always be CUB's mainstay, complementary avenues, such as ready-to-drink products, will play a strong role.
Picture: Andrew De La Rue

When John Murphy started work in the mail room at Carlton and United Breweries in Queensland in 1980 - a month before his 17th birthday - he never dreamt that he would one day be running the company.

Yesterday, Foster's Group announced that Mr Murphy, a 41-year-old father of three, had been named managing director of CUB after what he described as "just a short stint" with the brewing giant.

"For me to think I'd ever be leading CUB was a dream," said Mr Murphy, who until his appointment had served in a range of posts in finance, marketing and operations, and most recently as vice-president of marketing and sales. "It wasn't something I aimed for. I just worked away."

And that, combined with support from colleagues and the hands-on training that came from work now done by computers - writing invoices, drawing cheques - gave him what he describes as a true understanding of the way CUB works.

He said beer would always be the mainstay of the business but other complementary avenues, such as ready-to-drink products and spirits, would play a strong role. And a greater market in unlabelled, quality wines served at functions could become a stronger focus for the company.

Mr Murphy's appointment follows the promotion of former CUB chief Trevor O'Hoy, who took over as group chief executive this month after long-serving boss Ted Kunkel announced he would leave the post.

Mr Murphy said he believed those changes were not revolutionary - rather, evolutionary - and after a period of "angst and uncertainty" that followed top-level change at every organisation, the culture at the company was now a positive one.

"My vision is to build a consumer-led, customer-driven business, in every sense of the word," he said. "My focus will be to build on CUB's current momentum, including realising the benefits flowing from the operational review, brand building and innovation."